1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a memory card authentication system, a capacity switching-type memory card host device, a capacity switching-type memory card, a storage capacity setting method, and a storage capacity setting program, which are capable of adopting a conventional capacity expression with an internal register and a new capacity expression and are capable of using a plurality of capacity expressions while switching the capacity expressions.
2. Description of the Related Art
A memory card containing a rewritable nonvolatile memory, which does not lose information saved therein even if a power supply is turned off, is a storage device for saving digital information for a device for controlling the digital information, such as a digital camera, a portable music player or a personal digital assistance (such a device will be hereinafter referred to as a “memory card host device”). Such a memory card includes a register for indicating a storage capacity; however, the momentum of increases in memory size will soon surpass the capacity which the register can express.
There are disclosed some technologies related to memory cards, such as a recording device which includes two memory cards in order to physically increase a storage capacity (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-325127).
It is necessary to consider a new method for expressing a storage capacity in order to increase a capacity of a memory card. However, when a current register is simply replaced, such a capacity switching-type memory card cannot be used with a conventional memory card host device.